Thirty years ago, Mourad Ben Rached gave up his Tunisian citizenship to become American. Early this month, arriving at San Francisco International Airport after visiting family in Tunisia, he said, he was detained for more than three hours by U.S. Customs and Border Protection with no water or bathroom access.

Ben Rached, 59, said federal authorities refused to tell him why he was detained, but he believes that in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks of 2001, he was targeted on the basis of his ethnicity.

“Honestly, if you ask my friends, I’m the last person to play the race card,” he said. “I just don’t think that way. I’m all for security. I’m getting on those planes, too.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it does not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, race or religion. “As part of their critical national security mission, CBP officers check the validity of travel documents, on all travelers regardless of nationality, race, sex, religion, faith, or spiritual beliefs and conducts enhanced inspections to ensure the traveler clears all grounds of admissibility,” a spokesperson said. “We do this routinely every day. It’s not unusual that a legitimate traveler, including U.S. citizens, may be subject to an enhanced inspection.”

Border protection officers also follow strict standards on traveler access to water and bathrooms during enhanced inspections, the spokesperson said.

It wasn’t the first time Ben Rached’s been stopped and detained at SFO, he said. The airport declined to answer questions about Ben Rached’s recent or past experiences, referring questions to federal officials.

CASTRO VALLEY, CA – MAY 7: Mourad Ben Rached, left, and his wife Pam Ben Rached are photographed in their home on Tuesday, May 7, 2019, in Castro Valley, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)

Ben Rached, who runs a personal training business with his wife, Pam, in Castro Valley where they live, has two adult children born and raised in the U.S. Every few years, he flies to Tunisia — a Muslim-majority nation in North Africa that is not subject to the U.S. travel ban — to visit his elderly mother, two sisters and two brothers.Since 9/11, he said, he’s had no problems when he’s traveled with his wife. But the four or so times he’s made the trip alone, he said he’s been detained upon his return to SFO.

When he arrived at SFO on May 1 around 7:30 p.m., having flown home from his native country via Germany, he said he followed the track for American citizens and presented his passport to an officer, who told him to go to the secondary-inspection area. “I said, ‘Really, again?’” Ben Rached recalled.

He was sent to a room with about 20 seats, and 80 people, he said. “You feel like you’re in a prison, immediately,” he said. “It’s such a horrible way of saying, ‘Welcome to the U.S.’”

Among his fellow detained travelers, he saw no white faces, he said. “Maybe 10 percent Asians and the rest brown people like me.”

He handed over his passport, and watched an officer put into an area marked “U.S. citizens,” where it sat alone, he said. “I’m waiting and I’m waiting and nothing happens,” he said. “This is one thing that really upsets me. You are never told why you are there or what to expect or anything, or if you have the right to do something or not do something. People just bark at you like you’re a convicted felon. It’s just not right to treat people this way.”

After about an hour, he said, his phone rang. It was Pam, outside, there to pick him up. “I answer it, and I say, ‘I’m in second-screening again,’” he said. An officer yelled “No cell phones” at him, he said. “I go, ‘That’s my ride out there.’ He said, again, ‘No cell phones, or I’m going to take it away from you and go through it.’”

Ben Rached said he deduced that he would get nowhere with the two officers he could see, but when he noticed another officer walking through, he followed him to a desk, he said. “I said, ‘I’m the only U.S. citizen here. It’s been three hours, what’s going on?’ He said, ‘You’re only going to make your stay here longer if you’re distracting me.’”

But Ben Rached pressed the man, he said, asking if authorities had concerns about him and whether he could speak with them about any concerns.

When he was stopped at SFO a decade or so ago while traveling with his young son, an officer told him his name resembled that of an Algerian person who was on a list, he said. But this time, when he asked if there was an issue with his name, he was told there wasn’t, and his name was common, he said. He said he asked why he was being stopped, because he wanted to fix whatever problem was leading to his detentions. The officer told him, “It’s routine,” he said.

He said he was released after the officer at the desk got up, talked with a colleague, came back, handed Ben Rached his passport and said he could leave. He said he was never told why he was stopped and held.

Ethan Baron is a business reporter at The Mercury News, and a native of Silicon Valley before it was Silicon Valley. Baron has worked as a reporter, columnist, editor and photographer in newspapers and magazines for 25 years, covering business, politics, social issues, crime, the environment, outdoor sports, war and humanitarian crises.